For the First Time in Forever
by fourprongs
Summary: Christmas AU in which Austin & Ally (who both work in the same label but have never met) are each other's Secret Santas. They both struggle to find the perfect gift while unknowingly falling for each other in the process. One-shot.


**For the First Time in Forever**

* * *

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Austin & Ally_ or any name mentioned. (Yes, the title comes from _Frozen)_**

* * *

"What am I supposed to get someone I don't even know?" Ally Dawson showed her best friend, Trish the slip of paper she received from Jimmy Starr that morning. Secret Santa was taken very seriously at Starr Records (in the most holiday- spirited way, of course).

"You know Austin Moon! That big pop star at your label."

"Yes, I am aware of who he is but I barely know the guy!" Ally puffed out air in frustration. "I mean, what do you give to someone who probably has everything?"

Ally started typing vigorously on her computer; maybe she could find something on the Internet!

"Sheesh, it seems like every time I come visit you at work you're always worrying about something." Trish rolled her eyes. "I still haven't forgiven you for shooing me away last week because you had a deadline coming up for a song! Besides, why are you so worked up about this anyway?"

"Because he's _Austin Moon_." Ally said as if that was reason enough. "Look, Jimmy loves him so what if I give him a present he doesn't like? What if tells Jimmy that I'm a terrible gift-giver and then Jimmy fires me?"

"Ally, calm down! Do you really think Austin Moon would do that?"

"I told you, I barely know the guy! He could be a- a- puppy murderer for all I know!" Ally stammered.

Trish has gotten used to the fact that her best friend was a paranoid person, always worrying about what others thought.

"I still can't believe that you both have been working for Jimmy for almost five years and you have never met- well officially, anyway." Trish said in disbelief. "Didn't you write a couple of songs for him before?"

Ally looked up from her computer. "Yeah but they were always given to him through Jimmy. Austin's always away on tour so it's extremely rare to even catch him here at Starr Records. Ah- Trish, look what about this?"

Trish went over to Ally and looked at her computer screen.

"A snuggie? Really?"

* * *

Austin grinned at the head of his record label, Jimmy Starr when he walked in the restaurant they were eating lunch at.

"How's my favourite pop star?" Jimmy hugged him then shook hands with Austin' manager, Dez before they sat down.

"I'm good, just a little jet lagged." His flight had just landed last night and despite the fact that he fell asleep right away, it was really good to be home. Austin ordered three stacks of pancakes while Dez showed Jimmy all the pictures from tour.

"Ah, before I forget, you're coming to the Starr Records Christmas party, right?" Jimmy asked the blonde while munching on his sandwich.

"Yep, Austin is completely free for the holidays so I don't see why not." Dez confirmed.

"Good, here's your name for our annual Secret Santa." Jimmy tossed Austin a folded piece of paper.

_Ally Dawson _

Dez read it over Austin's shoulder. "Hey isn't it that the songwriter who wrote _Better Than This _from your last album?"

He thought for a moment. "Hey, it is! Dez, can you put together a muffin basket for her?"

"Now, Austin I know you haven't been to any of our Christmas parties because of your busy schedule but here at Starr Records, we take Secret Santa very seriously." Jimmy told him, sternly.

"What's wrong with a muffin basket?"

"It doesn't have any thought put into it!" Dez exclaimed.

"But I don't even know her!"

Jimmy took out his phone and began scrolling then showed Austin a picture of the songwriter. He's pretty sure he had caught a glimpse of her a couple of years back when he left his recording booth to go to the washroom.

"Still, why can't I just give her a notepad or something? You know, because she writes songs. See, there's thought!"

"She already has dozens of notepads." Jimmy explained.

The three ate in silence before Austin snapped his fingers.

"What about a pen?"

* * *

She's going through different song lyrics when she hears a ruckus outside her office door.

"_Austin, you're back!"_

"_Austin, haven't seen you in forever!"_

"_Austin, did you get me that kimono I wanted from Japan?" _

She finally gave in to the chatter and opened her door. Sure enough, Austin Moon was there, surrounded by the rest of her label mates and he was handing out different souvenirs he received during his world tour. The last time she saw him in person was three years ago when he asked her where the nearest washroom was.

He catches her eye and starts to say something when one of the producers drags him away.

It's hard enough that his recording booth is on the other side of the building, how is she supposed to get to know him so she can buy him a present?

_Maybe I should just get him chocolate. Everyone likes chocolate! _She thinks.

Tired, she goes on her computer and searches up everything there is to know about Austin Moon. Thank goodness for the Austin Moon fandom and their blogs.

She stifles a laugh. "Monica?"

* * *

"Why don't you just ask her what she wants for Christmas?" Dez suggests. They're supposed to be recording a song but Austin is too stressed out by the whole Secret Santa thing.

"Because it's called a _Secret _Santa?" He should've introduced himself to her today then have a conversation with her long enough to know what she'd want for Christmas.

He goes to the break room later that day to fix up some pancakes when he spots one of his songwriters and decides to ask him about Ally.

"Ah, Miss Dawson is very talented. She's the youngest songwriter we have- I think she's your age, actually." Bern says.

"Yeah, okay but do you know her well enough to say, know what she wants for Christmas?"

Bern smiles in realization. "A little trouble with the Secret Santa, I see." He looks around the room and spots something that was left on the table. "Aha! This should help you." He hands Austin a brown leather notebook.

"What is it?"

"It's her songbook, a lot of songs reflect herself so you should be able to find at least one thing she likes." Bern explains. "But I'd hurry with the book if I were you, she'll go crazy once she realizes it's missing."

He quickly thanks Bern and starts to read the book. There's a short sentence in the corner of a page and he reads it out loud.

"_I'm craving pickles._"

* * *

"Ugh, this is hopeless!" Ally yells to herself after countless hours of surfing different social media websites and blogs about Austin. She learned that his favourite food was pancakes and his favourite movies are the Zalien films and a whole bunch of other favourites. She figured she could just buy him a bunch of pancake mixes but if his favourite food were pancakes, wouldn't he already have a pantry full of pancake ingredients?

_Maybe I should just finish a couple of songs first._ She thought about getting her songbook out but refused. _ No, I need to get this Secret Santa thing out of the way. _

Thinking she needs some pickles to make calm her down a bit, she goes to the break room. She sees one of her fellow songwriters and sits next to him after grabbing a jar of pickles from the fridge.

"Hey Bern, what are you working on?" He was playing his guitar and jotting down some notes.

"A song for Austin Moon."

Her eyes widen in glee. "You wouldn't happen to know what he'd like for Christmas, would you? I mean, what _doesn't_ he have?"

She can see Bern laugh softly to himself and she's about to ask what's funny when the sound of a phone vibrating on the edge of the table catches both of their attentions.

Bern checks the phone and grins. He then chucks it at her. She barely catches it and reads the message from "Dez".

_Austin, I'm leaving the booth early tonight. I need to cut down a tree. _

"I can't take his phone!"

"Why not? He writes a lot of his thoughts, inspirations, and song lyrics in his notes on his phone. It'll help you think of at least one thing to get him. Just maybe don't read his texts. Meh, he won't mind." Bern shrugs.

"Wow, he's really that understanding?"

"He's a good kid that Austin Moon." Bern goes back to his songwriting and Ally slides to unlock Austin's phone. There's a passcode. Ally taps his birthday and it unlocks. _Hey, those blogs were good for one thing!_ She thinks.

She brings the jar of pickles and his phone to her office then locks the door. She scrolls through his notes first. She really likes some of his lyrics and she thinks about writing other lyrics that would work with some of his songs but that would have to wait.

She can't help but notice that he had written down a lyric from her favourite Beatles song.

"_All you need is love…"_

* * *

Where has this girl been his whole life?

That's what he thinks when he finishes reading her songbook. Her songs are beyond amazing and judging from her journal entries, she's very funny (and clumsy but he'll look past that). He skipped the pages he thought were going to be too personal. He learns that she's into cloud watching and that one day she wants to be able to sing on an actual stage. She never stated why but he just figured she had a bad voice or something.

He wishes that he learned all of this information from her though. She would've been a fun person to be around.

However, there isn't anything specific in her book that she wants for Christmas. There are a lot of love songs so maybe she wants romance but he can't just hand that to her in a box.

Maybe he could set her up on a blind date. He decides against it as he feels an unpleasant feeling in his stomach when he tries to picture her with another guy.

He decides to go with what he intended to give to her when he read the first couple of pages of her book.

But before that, he skims through the pages again to see if she has a boyfriend.

It's not because he likes her or anything.

That's crazy; he doesn't even know her - well, officially anyway.

Great, now he feels like a stalker.

That feeling goes away when reads the first line of her last journal entry dated yesterday.

"_Trish thinks I'm uptight all the time because I don't have a boyfriend."_

* * *

Ally still feels guilty about snooping through his phone but what choice did she have?

She accidentally clicks on his photos. She finds herself intrigued and decides to look through them. She gets flustered because she admits that he's really handsome. There are a lot of pictures of him on tour and she notices herself smiling widely at how into his music he looks. She watches different videos of him and his friends and she laughs at how _fun_ he seems and how much she needs that kind of guy in her life.

Not like a _guy _guy but like a friend!

Maybe she wouldn't be as uptight as Trish says she is.

She looks through his music on his phone and gasps as she sees that they have the same music taste. _Get it together, Ally. A lot of people like the same music as you. _But there wasn't.

She still didn't know what to get him.

Desperate, she taps on his messages. She's careful to not accidentally read anything that's too personal. She doesn't see any girls on the list of his texts and she doesn't know why she's so relieved.

She sees that the last text he sent to his mom was he saying that he misses her. He's probably on tour so much that he hasn't had time to see his mom in ages.

She goes through his notes one more time and she notices one with the title of a Christmas tree emoticon and she almost screams in excitement. She's going to finally know what to get him!

"_What I want for Christmas is to fall in love."_

She face-palms. The one thing he wants is something she can't buy him. Frustrated, she tells herself to just buy the one thing she thought of a couple of minutes ago.

But, not before watching another video of him. And another. And another.

* * *

"I'd like to thank everyone for coming out tonight!" Jimmy announces through a mic. "Hopefully, everyone will love the gifts their Secret Santa gets them. If not, pretend that you do." He laughs. "Happy Holidays!"

Ally, in her favourite red dress, stands on her tippy toes to look for Austin.

Austin, in a red and green plaid shirt and black jeans, scans the room for Ally.

They lock eyes at the same time.

"You're my Secret Santa?" They say at the same time. They both laugh, nervously.

"Um, I'm Austin."

"I'm Ally." She says with a smile that makes him warm inside. "We finally get to meet."

"Yeah, _officially_." He says with a grin. She laughs because it feels natural to laugh around him.

"Here's your gift!" She hands him a red envelope.

"Here's yours." He gives her a gift bag shaped like a snowman.

Ally opens hers first.

She takes out a cloud-watching t-shirt from the bag. She questions for a moment on how he knows she's in the cloud-watching club but figures Bern probably told him.

"Austin, I love it!"

She doesn't have the heart to tell him that she has three of the exact same t-shirts at home.

He rips open the envelope and sees that it's an airplane ticket to anywhere.

"I figured you probably miss your parents and got you a ticket so you can see them this Christmas!" She explained.

"Wow, that's so thoughtful of you!" He gives her a smile.

He can't find it in him to tell her that his parents are on a Christmas cruise.

And that they live in Miami, too.

He doesn't think about it when he wraps her in a hug. She's tentative at first but she ropes her arms around his waist and squeezes.

He starts to tell her how stunning she looks when he hears a familiar ring from her purse. Her eyes widen a little when she pulls the phone out and hands it to him.

"Hey, is that my phone?" He asks, confused.

"I can explain! I didn't know what to get you so I asked Bern for help and you left your phone in the break room and Bern said why not? So I did because I was desperate but I didn't look through any of your personal things I swear-" She rambles on until Austin covers her mouth with his hands.

He learns that she talks a lot. That's something that wasn't in her songbook.

He likes learning new things about her.

"Relax, Ally." He laughs. "It's okay. I trust you. And besides…" He takes out her songbook from the same gift bag that he gave her that she must've not seen and holds it out for her.

Her mouth drops open. "Austin Monica Moon! You did not!"

He gives her a sheepish shrug. She rolls her eyes, playfully because she just can't get mad at him.

"So, what your plans for Christmas?" He asks her.

She shrugs. "Probably just opening presents by myself."

"No one should spend Christmas alone. " He invites her to spend it at his house because he'll be alone, too.

"Aren't you going to spend it with your parents?" She points at the present she got him. He laughs, nervously before explaining to her where his parents are.

She laughs and points at her cloud-watching t-shirt. "To be honest, I already have three of these t-shirts."

"I had a feeling." He should've gotten her something else, but what now? Christmas is tomorrow! He thinks for a moment. "Come to New York with me on New Year's."

She blinks. "What?"

"You already bought me an airplane ticket to anywhere and I want to go to New York City. Let me buy you a ticket so we can go together! Haven't you always wanted to spend New Year's Eve at Times Square?"

She has. "But, we barely know each other!"

"I know that your favourite food is pickles."

She smiles. "And, I know that yours is pancakes."

"See? We've already got the basics down! We can get to know each other even better on our trip. You know, to make up for loss time."

She finally agrees because how could they have missed each other all this time? She falls for him a little more when he does a dorky victory dance.

They talk and talk and realize that there was way more to each other than what they've learned from her songbook and his cell phone.

He drives her home and she lets him walk her to her door.

He doesn't see any mistletoe hanging and gets extremely disappointed.

But, that doesn't stop him from kissing her cheek.

Just, her cheek- he'll save the actual thing for New Year's.

And, for the first time in _forever,_ they both might have finally gotten what they wanted for Christmas.

The End.

**A/N:** **Bleh, cheesy ending, I know. **


End file.
